British GP: Race notes - Lotus

NEWS STORY06/07/2014

Romain Grosjean came home twelfth whilst Pastor Maldonado was classified seventeenth in an eventful 2014 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The race was red flagged after the first start and delayed whilst barriers were repaired, before a restart behind the safety car. Both cars ran a single pit stop strategy in the restarted race.

Romain started from P11 on the grid on new medium compound tyres. He restarted the race on new hard tyres before changing to new mediums on lap 30. Pastor started from twentieth position after a penalty for being unable to provide sufficient fuel for a sample post-qualifying. He started on new medium compound tyres for the initial start as well as the restarted race, before changing to new hard tyres on lap 26. He retired after completing 49 laps with an exhaust problem.

Romain Grosjean: "It was a difficult first start to the race for me. I had a switch problem which meant limited power, but despite that we had a good first lap. I avoided the incident with Kimi, but my visor did get damaged by some debris. The restart went pretty well for me and the car felt alright. Towards the end of the race, on medium tyres, our pace was much better. We came close to the points but we'd started the race from too far down the grid. I understood quite a lot from the car today which should assist us in making progress."

Pastor Maldonado: "My first start felt good but after the restart we struggled for power so I wasn't able to fight with the cars around me. I still pushed as best I could but making progress was difficult. There was contact from Esteban Gutierrez, the result of which I'm told looked spectacular, but in the car it was over very quickly and we kept on racing. We're not sure if this added to the cause of my retirement, certainly the rear wing was moving about more than normal so we don't know yet what other damage there was. Now I look forward to testing here on Tuesday."

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: "Once more the team demonstrated great teamwork over a challenging weekend. Unfortunately we weren't able to take advantage of what looks to be much more competitive damp weather performance as the weather was much better today. It was an eventful race and we're thankful no-one was hurt in the incident at the start. Our performance was short of where we want it to be, but both drivers gave their all. As our local race, it was fantastic to see so many people from Enstone here and we thank them all for their ongoing hard work."

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: "That was a tough race for us and we weren't able to deliver the pace we want to see from the E22. Both drivers worked hard to deliver their best in the circumstances but it was difficult for them to move forwards. Romain had a tough start but looked much better at the end of the race. Pastor suffered from an exhaust problem at the end of his race so we'll investigate the cause of that, especially as he was involved in contact with another car during the course of the race. We now look forward to two days of testing here in Silverstone where we have a lot of work to do."

Simon Rebreyend, Renault Sport F1 track support leader: "It's been a tough weekend and less than we hoped for on the team's home track. Finishing with one car in twelfth is little reward for all the hard work going on behind the scenes at Enstone and Viry. Pastor retired close to the end due to an exhaust failure, which the team will look into next week. On our side we managed the power unit as best we could today but the starting positions were just too far back to be able to make an impression."